Birding with Yeats

August 4, 2014
A mother's journey through the critical years of her son's adolescence is recounted in lyrical fashion in this vivid and meditative memoir by a Toronto bookseller and first-time author. When early intimations that her son shares her love of birdwatching are confirmed during a trip to Vancouver Island, the author finds herself on an unusual path for bonding with her son. Yeats, who has grown up having Tennyson, Frost and Yeats read to him, hates the structures and social pressures of school but from an early age has been acutely responsive to natural beauty. The book is replete with birds, to a degree that might try the patience of some readers, but Thomson incorporates those details into her reflections so seamlessly that even readers who aren't birdwatchers will be engaged. Tactile and emotive evocations of nature, a profoundly Canadian love of cottaging and travel, and some almost startling descriptions of places from Ontario to the Galapagos Islands form the backdrop for this coming of age story. Yeat's relationship with his mother must change as he grows up, but in Thomson's touching account we see that he is ready for the next step and the ways she helped him get there.

May 15, 2014
In this quiet contemplation of parenting and marriage, Thomson looks back to the surprising years after her youngest child, Yeats, entered high school. No longer a stay-at-home mom, she, with her husband, embarked on the new venture of bookstore ownership as Yeats, always a willful boy, struggled in the classroom. Mother and son formed a new bond through bird-watching, and Thomson recounts their trips and the birds they spotted in adventures far more casual than those of a big year variety. Woven into her reminiscences of Yeats are thoughtful considerations of returning to work, a frank assessment of her long-term marriage, and an honest appraisal of her concerted effort to grapple with all of life's changes with a bit of grace and humor. A candid chronicle of a smart boy finding his way into manhood, a father carving out a midlife career change, and a mother juggling the needs of others as she looks for clarity regarding her own decisions. Book groups will find much to relate to and discuss in this delightful tonic for overworked souls.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)